What's New With The Carter Family

This past August, Jem and I were lucky enough to be able to take a month long trip down to Australia! It was Jem's second time there, and he was VERY excited to be able to see his Nunna, Papou, Uncle Con, Bouz Nunnu and all of the friends and family I've spoken so much of. We were able to spend time with my beloved Tzia Rose, Bill's girls Jaymie and Alex (who will always have a very special place in my heart), and my bestest friend from high school and beyond, Joanne. I am so glad that Jem got to spend some time with these very special people. Here they are below..... Jaymie and Alexandra... Joanne... My Tzia Rose... We got to visit with many other friends and family during our trip - thank you to everyone who came to see us or met up with us, we really loved seeing you again! Jem and I have some pretty awesome memories of our holiday - going to the beach to collect shells with Papou, playing cards for money (haha!), my dad's awesome (did I say AWESOME?) greek salad, f...

Jem is now 4 years old! Can you believe that all he wanted for his birthday was to have a 'Purple Party'? (Whatever that means....) We sent out invitations to 9 of his closest pals, and decorated the house in all manner of purple. Then for 2 hours it was pure kid bliss - with pizza, cake, games, a pinata & a special bouncy castle for the gang to jump in! Jem had a ball - and is already talking about NEXT year's birthday, which for now he is predicting will be a 'Yellow Party' (Spongebob perhaps???)

Have you ever seen a dog so fine? Look at that pretty girl..........and all it took was a visit to the doggy stylist! Money well spent, or so Snickers thinks :)

This Valentine's Day Jem had a playgroup party, where candy was exchanged and crafts were done.....my special memory of the day was when Jem colored a red heart for me and wrote his name (all by himself!) in it and said "this is for you, my mama!". It brought a tear to my eye I tell ya! That is, of course, until we got home..........where he promptly ran to daddy and exclaimed "look what I made you daddy!". So much for my 'special' valentine!

Ok guys....it's finally here. Jem's first day of preschool *sigh*. As much as I've been waiting for this moment, when my son will be out making new friends, having lots of fun (and giving me a break) - I must admit that I was very emotional when I dropped him off. As I was driving off home I had this sinking feeling that I forgot something; I checked my purse, my camera... nope, everything was there. Oh yeah, EXCEPT MY SON!!!!!!!!!!!! It was my first real pangs of pain from being separated from him *sigh*. We've been together since he was born, and he hardly ever leaves my side (except to be with his dad). So this is an interesting experience for me (and for Jem too I'm sure!). Speaking of Jem, he just LOVES going to preschool. I know that this will be fun for him. He likes his teachers (Miss Lori, Miss Cindy and Miss DeeDee) and especially loves playing outside on the car track! Here are some pictures from his first day :)

As you may already know, Brandon has been working fairly diligently this summer on our side yard. It is very steep, and in order to be usable we need to construct a number of terraces. He has started on the lower level retaining wall, and it's looking great! As you can probably tell, it is a LOT of hard work...and Brandon is doing an awesome job!

On Friday September 1st, we took Jem to the State Fair in Monroe. It was the first time any of us had ever been....and we all had a really good time! Jem especially - our little thrillseeker couldn't get enough of all the rides, and lunchtime was a big hit too (especially since he got to eat lots of yummy fair food!). We also got to see lots of animals at the fair.... one in particular was pretty amazing. It was a 700 lb pregnant pig, about to give birth any day! I can't say I've ever seen a pig that big before *LOL*. She was amazing! It was a fun day - definitely money well spent!